Inter RAO UES acquires 100% stake in Moldova’s GRES

Russian Inter RAO UES announced yesterday it has concentrated 100% of Moldavian Thermal Power Plant (Moldavskaya GRES, located in Transnistria, an unrecognized independent region, formerly part of Moldova), after purchasing a 49% stake for USD 163 mln from Hungarian Emfesz Kft, which is related to Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash. Alexander Paraschiy: The deal’s P/Capacity is USD 132 per kW, a deep discount to Russian generation company acquisitions (USD 470-750 per kW). We believe the reason for the low valuation of GRES is low load (only 2-3 power units out of 12 are typically in operation): for Moldova and Transnistria, it is cheaper to buy Ukrainian electricity than to produce it at GRES. Though, the power station has good prospects in terms of increasing its load for export to Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria – in order to realize this project, investments in transmission capacities are needed.